The Aftermath-A Harry Potter Fanfiction
by ItsACatParty
Summary: Everyone is still suffering even after the Second Wizarding War has ended and Voldemort is gone. Especially those who have lost loved ones. What happens to the Weasley family (and Company) when Molly tries to bring a little light back to the Burrow? Can the wounds be healed? This is the aftermath. Disclaimer, the world and characters of Harry Potter belong to J.K. Rowling.


It was the beginning of August, and the burrow was uncharacteristically quiet and had been for the last 2 months. The war had ended and everyone was still suffering.

Molly Weasley walked into the living room and looked out the window to see the yard empty. Where were the children?

She knew that Charlie was staying at Bill and Fleur's house, since he had put off going back to Romania to be with his family. Hermione was reading in a patch of sunlight of the stairwell. She heard a distant creek of the broom shed door, telling her that Harry, Ron, and Ginny had just gotten back from a fly or quick Quidditch game. That just left… George.

Molly sighed looking at the ceiling. George would be in his room like he had been since they returned home at the beginning of May. He used to pretend to be asleep when Molly would go up to try to coax him out of bed, or get him to eat. Now he just sat there looking at nothing. George had lost an unhealthy amount of weight from the very little he had been eating, and had a grey tinge to his appearance, from lack of sunlight or sadness, Molly didn't know.

She could hear Harry, Ron, and Ginny come in, keeping quiet though a little breathless. They were in the kitchen getting refreshments, and you could hear Hermione coming down the steps to join them.

"Arthur, what day is it?" Molly asked him.

"Well, it is the 9th of August dear." He said, not really looking up from the Daily Prophet he was reading.

Molly stopped for a second. If it was the 9th of August, which means…

"Oh my!" Molly exclaimed, standing up suddenly, scaring Crookshanks who had been grooming himself.

The four children hurried into the room, staring at Molly in bewilderment along with Arthur.

There was a chorus of various 'What's wrong?'s and 'Are you alright?'s, but she only answered with "It's August 9th."

"Mum, are you okay?" Ron asked warily.

"Of course I am! I just lost track of time." She said to her worried family, trying to give them reassuring looks.

"Then… What's going on Mrs. Weasley?" Hermione asked, not being able to see what Mrs. Weasley was going on about.

"Well if today is August 9th," Started Molly. "Then that means Ginny's birthday is in two days!" She said, smiling at the youngest Weasley child.

Everyone turned to look at the redhead sheepishly, as Molly wasn't the only one to lose track of time.

"Its fine Mum, I wasn't planning on us doing anything this year." Ginny said, looking straight at her mother. "Not with everything that's gone on in the last 5 months." She said this to everyone.

"Nonsense, it's your Seventeenth year, its tradition. And anyways, everyone could use some happiness about now." She said, faintly looking up to the ceiling at where George was tucked away on the second floor.

Looking back at everyone surrounding her in the living room she turned to Arthur, who was still seated with his copy of The Daily Prophet half raised. "Arthur, please floo to Bill's and get tell them about the celebration." She told him, starting to turn around, then looking back at her husband, "Hmm, maybe you should floo Andromeda too, she can bring Teddy, the more the merrier!" She finished, grinning at everyone in the room. As she was walking out of the room towards the kitchen to presumably start supper she called to Ron, Harry, and Ginny, "Do not drag dirt through the house or you'll be put on gnome duty!" then disappeared around the corner.

It was later that night, after everyone had gone to bed, that Ginny heard her door creak ever so slightly, letting a sliver of light through the crack, and then it was gone. The bed sagged as another body took residency in it, and moments later Harry whipped the Invisibility Cloak off, getting comfortable next to Ginny.

"Can you believe that she's doing this?" Ginny asked him, still a little hurt that it had to be _her_ birthday that was used as an excuse. "She just wants to get George out of bed." Ginny said, softening at the mention of her brother.

"Well, even if she is, it's an alright idea. Anyways, she's right, it's your seventeenth, and you are going to be an adult. It's a very big thing Ginny." Harry told her, trying to calm the ginger by tracing patterns on her hip.

"Well, I still don't see why it has to be me that is used as an excuse." She mumbled, knowing Harry was right.

"I know. Just awful isn't it." Harry whispered to her, grinning broadly.

Ginny hit his stomach jokingly before curving into him again, and drifting off to sleep.

It was two days later and exactly thirty minutes until everyone was set to arrive at the Burrow for Ginny's birthday. Molly had a feast set up in the kitchen; the children had spent the previous afternoon and the morning cleaning, and were now cleaning up before the guest arrived.

Andromeda arrived ten minutes early to drop off Teddy since she couldn't come because of errands she had that day, so Harry and Ginny were in the living room amusing him. Not long after, Bill, Fleur, and Charlie showed up which drew Ron and Hermione out into the living room. All there on time and safe, the only people missing where Arthur, Molly, and George.

Molly opened the door to the bedroom that used to belong to the twins slowly. As soon as she had, the odor hit her; it smelt of dirty socks, body odor, and salt. She entered the room with Arthur close behind her. There was a lump on the bed that was covered in a blanket despite the heat and humidity of early August.

Behind her, Molly heard Arthur mutter a Scourgify charm at the chamber pot that was reeking in the corner, and used another spell to push the few pieces of dirty laundry into the hamper and quickly out the door, which helped a lot with the smell, but the body odor and salt was still there.

Restlessness from the heap of blankets and murmurs told Molly that George was asleep. She sat down, perched on the edge of the bed with Arthur behind her. As if sensing she needed some strength, Arthur placed a hand down on Molly's shoulder, and before she could lose courage again, she reached and grabbed the blankets, pulling back to reveal a sweaty, pale, and thin George asleep with his eyes searching crazily under his closed lids.

Molly shook George ever so gently, saying his name barely above a whisper to wake him up. His eyes flew open with a cry and he sat up quickly, looking around himself fearfully.

"George! George honey, it's me. It's mum Georgie. It's okay." Molly reassured him, still speaking in low tones as to not frighten him anymore than he already was.

George's eyes fastened on his parents and he visibly slackened, "Oh," he said. "I thought… I was dreaming." He told his parents, looking guilty and then fixed his eyes on a place on the wall.

"We know." It was Arthur who spoke up from behind his wife. "We all have them George."

That provoked a choked sound from someone in the room, it being Molly or George, Arthur couldn't tell.

"We want you to come downstairs George. It's Ginny's birthday, she's seventeen today. We're having a party, everyone's he-." Molly cut herself off, searching George's face to see a reaction. Molly was wrong, almost everyone was here.

Almost.

You could tell George heard her from the tightening in his mouth and the small twitch from his left eye, though "Ginny." Was all he said.

"Yeah, Ginny." Called a voice from where the door had been left open. All three heads turned towards it to find the youngest Weasley in the doorway. "It's my birthday George," Ginny told him. "Let's make it a right one, mum has made cake and Teddy is here. You should see him, he's entertaining us with various animal snouts. Just like his mother that one." She chuckled.

"I'll be down in a minute then, won't I." George said. You could tell this time that the choked surprised sound came from his mother.

"Very well then!" Molly said, clapping her hands in front of her chest once, grinning widely. "Let's go downstairs Arthur." She told her husband, guiding him around her two children and out of the room, giving Ginny's arm a light brush with her fingertips on her way past.

"We gotta make it right Gred." Was all Ginny said to her older brother before she turned and headed towards the stairs.

Fifteen minutes later, they heard slow and heavy steps on the stairs, and sure enough George's face appeared around the corner. He entered the living room, causing a wave of silence, which lasted only as long as it took for Fleur; who was holding baby Teddy, to cross the room, handing the infant to a hesitant George.

"Et's go eat that vonderful scented food Mrs. Vealsey prep'red." Fleur said to everyone in the room. They all hastily took their eyes off George and followed Molly and Ginny to the kitchen, Fleur turned to follow her husband, but not before sending George a quick wink that the ginger mouthed a silent 'Thank you.' too.

"Well, let's go get some food hmm Teddy?" George said looking down at the Metamorphmagus who was currently sporting dark grey hair and a tiny little elephant trunk.

George headed towards the table and noticed it was missing a chair.

"Mum, what happened to Fr-" He closed his lips around the word which refused to come out. "To his chair."

"Well we thought it would be easier for you if…" Molly trailed off.

"Well go get it Ron." George said to the youngest Weasley boy.

Ron raised his eyebrows and scoffed at being told what to do, but exited the room to return shortly with a shabby short backed wooden chair. George looked at it, holding his head cocked to the right.

"That won't do, will it?" To the others it looked as if he was talking to himself, but he was asking Teddy who just let out a happy gurgled baby sound.

George pulled his wand out of his pocket and waved it at the chair, and to everyone's surprise it transfigured into a highchair that sat at perfect height for the table. He just walked over to it and sat Teddy in it, and then seated himself in his chair next to it.

Everyone else sat down not long after and they enjoyed the meal, giving Molly various compliments on her cooking throughout it. At one point Teddy flung a handful of mash potatoes at Charlie, who used a deflective spell and it ended up hitting Fleur, a small food fight broke out, but no sooner had it started Molly had it ended.. Soon enough everyone was finished and ready for the cake they could smell. Molly went and brought out a large flat cake that had a drawing in frosting on it of a Quidditch game. Candles where places on in, and everyone stood up and surrounded Ginny while they sang her Happy Birthday rather out of tune, though George stayed quiet other than the humming he was doing.

At the end of the song, George looked at Teddy and winked with mischief in his eyes, which caused the baby to laugh rather loudly.

"Okay Darling," Molly said to her daughter. "Blow out the candles!"

Ginny inhaled a deep breath to blow out a total of 17 candles on the first try was just about to blow out when George placed a pointed party hat on her and then it proceeded swallowed Ginny's entire head.

The laughter started with George, and leaked through to Harry and Ron, then to Bill, Charlie and Hermione, and then everyone was laughing even Molly, and an echo like laugh from the party hat that Ginny resided in.

The laughter went on for a very long time, even after Ginny; with the help of Fleur, managed to pull the hat off of her. All of the tension of the war and the aftermath was being released from shoulders throughout the room. At some point Molly had sunk to her knees; holding a chair for support, from laughter and relief of George _actually pulling a prank_.

As the laughter died off, they started to hear faint sniffling, and then it broke into sobs. George was crying. The shaking of his shoulders from laughter turned into shuddering from grief. George was soon surrounded by limbs. So many arms were wrapped around him he couldn't tell which ones connected to which body. His tears; much like the laughter, lasted for a very long time, but the strong grips and reassuring and comforting pats and circles the hands made never ceased. When words are finally spoken, they are barely above a whisper and they come from George.

"I miss him so much."

And then, said so hesitantly and broken up, a word is spoken in the first time in 2 months.

"Fr-, Fr-, Fre- ed. I miss Fred s-s-sso much."

This draws many occupants of the room to tears and various voices send out "We all do.", and "We know."

At some point they all ended up in a pile on the floor; still embracing George, which would have been very uncomfortable if anyone had cared. The tears were reduced to shuddering breaths and sniffing of noses. Then they heard a squawking sound that came from a Teddy that wasn't enjoying being left out in his highchair.

They all stood up and Harry picked his godson up from where he had been left.

"Wait guys, can babies speak at 5 months?" Harry asked excitedly. The kitchen quickly quieted down to hear baby Teddy Lupin speak.

"Grd. Grd." The baby garbled out, not actually saying words but more like sounds.

Ron spoke up from where he was next to Harry. "I think he's saying Gred." He told the room laughing.

'No," George piped up. "His first word is definitely not going to be Gred. He isn't even speaking, they're just baby sounds!" He went on.

"Now that you say it," Bill chuckled, "It does kind of sound like Gred."

"Grd! Grd!" Teddy was excited now that he was getting all the attention, jumping up and down in Harry's arms.

"Gred?" Harry asked the infant who had black and red striped hair.

"Grd. Grddd. Grrrd." He gurgled on, letting out giggles.

George turned around to his sister who was laughing along with the rest of her family. "God dammit Ginny!"


End file.
